…after 4 years

Firstly, Google Suggest is an auto-complete tool for searches on Googles homepage. The service will allow users to see the most commonly searched phrases after they’ve typed in the first few letters of query. A little like Firefox does when you use the Google builtin search bar.

The service isn’t live just yet but should be with us in a week or so. If you’re interested in trying it out now here’s the link - Google Suggest.

Although the Suggest feature was started back in 2004 it’s already been incorporated into Google Labs, Toolbar, Firefox, Maps and web based search (for a select group of countries) and YouTube.

This should make searching simpler and cut down on the number of spelling mistakes made by searchers (is this the end of making bank on adsense using typos?) but is by no means original. Yahoo have had this feature for some as has Cuil. Let’s see if Microsoft joing the party?

Popularity: 8% [?]

…defying scarey economic predictions

Recently, Mervyn King, the head of the Bank of England, pretty much said “we’re stuffed” ! Ok, those aren’t his exact words but over the next few years we should all expect some pretty hard times.

So it would seem that we’re going to slow down on buying, business will dry up, unemployment will rise… It may well happen but I don’t think many consumers (that’s you and me) are listening according to a report released by IMRG and Crapgemini. The figures show UK internet sales reached £4.8bn in July - that’s a massive 11.3 per cent rise  over June. This figure is equivalent to £79 spent for every person in the UK.

‘Hooray, the economy is going to be fine’ - not exactly! Online spending went up, high street sale went down by 0.9%. So, do we finally trust technology to help do our shopping or are we just lazy? Look at is this way, why go to town when you have it delivered?

The largest sales increases were seen in clothing, footwear and accessories, which rose by 22.8 per cent. Call me a sceptic, but a lot of this could be parents getting ready for their kids going back to school!

Popularity: 23% [?]

Outage dampens enthusiasm for Google Mail service

Internet darling Google has publicly apologised to users for an outage that prevented users from accessing free and paid services. On the Google blog, the company has promised to carry out a review to see what went wrong and implement processes to ensure it doesn’t happen again. No money back for paid subscribers?

The Gmail problems follow Google Docs and Spreadsheets access problems in July when customers were locked out of their cloud-based applications for over an hour.

Google really can’t afford problems like this to happen again. Microsoft is preparing to launch a rival to the Gmail and Apps services in 2009 which could leech customers away from the Goog.

The Microsoft offering, Business Productivity Suite (do they really pay someone to think of these names?) will offer customers a subscription service. A range of Microsoft software will be available to customers, including Exchange, Dynamics, and Office SharePoint, Communications and Meeting for around £90. Hmm, time for Google to sort their house out!

Popularity: 2% [?]

A snip at £20 million!

It would appear that BT is keen to expand its BT Directories business. Ufindus  currently has a huge number of customers - 20,000+ small and medium-sized business customers and around 1.9 millionlistings in its online directory. In addition, Ufindus offers its services through three directories: SmileLocal, MoreUK and Ufindus. On top of thie, it also runs more than 100 niche directories and provides website design services.

Lancaster based Ufindus had reported revenues of £14m in the year to 31 March, 2007 - that actually looks like a real bargain for BT.

Ufindus is expected to play a key role in the development of BT Directories’s online service offering.

“Through Ufindus’s considerable expertise and experience in online classified advertising, we access further local classified product offerings, significant search traffic and new customers for this fast-growing part of our business.” said David Benjamin, the chief executive of BT Directories.

Interesting news, I’m off to play a game of ‘Monopoly’!

Popularity: 22% [?]

It’s all up in the air!

Now this is amazing; mid air views with users interacting with Google Earth using their hands. The potential for Human Computer Interface (HCI) is awesome.

The holographic interface is being developed by lm3labs…I’m going to stop talking now, check it out here.

Popularity: 2% [?]

DoJ launches anti-trust investigation.

It would seem the US Department of Justice is a little edgey about the deal which allows Yahoo to serve Google ads. To be honest, I’m not really surprised when you consider that the deal effectively wraps up 80% of the search market between two companies!

Ok, the deal hasn’t actually gone ahead yet as Google and Yahoo have agreed to give the DoJ 3 months to investigate but as the companies aren’t merging the deal doesn’t need upfront approval. If found to be anti-competitive the deal could be stopped or modified.

Given that the advertising rights are not exclusive, I would say that this deal will be approved with little or no change to the wording.

I wonder how Microsoft will answer this!

Popularity: 4% [?]

New Domains cause headaches

Enterprise web filtering specialist, Bloxx, has welcomed the the announcement by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to extend the currently available top level domains. The move should, alongside longer IP addresses available under IPv6, protect the Internet for all perceived domain name and world population growth rates.

From January next year, anyone can then apply for one of these new, inexhaustible domain names which will be made available by opening up top level domain possibilities (rather than the currently acceptable .uk, .fr, .de etc).

In addition, the widespread adoption of IPv6 lengthens the available IP addresses, which at the current rate would expire in 2010. With IPv4 there were potentially 4.2 billion IP addresses available for use. By moving to IPv6 this figure has increased this to 340 trillion, trillion, trillion - that’s a lot of domains.

“The recommendations from ICANN will future proof the Internet so that it can be used and enjoyed for many generations to come,” says Bloxx Managing Director, Eamonn Doyle. “However, we predict a land grab for these additional top level domains which will see a dramatic increase in the number of registered domains and URLs. This will be a significant
challenge for first and second-generation web filtering suppliers whose products depend on keeping a URL database up-to-date.”

“The problem with first and second generation web filters is with the growth and turnover of the web, as soon as a URL database or “blacklist” is updated, it is out of date - these new recommendations mean this problem has never been more relevant,” explains Doyle. “Third-generation filters, such as Bloxx Tru-View Technology, analyse and categorise sites on the fly and make an informed decision as to what risks are associated with accessing them, and are now clearly the only viable way to manage user access to the web.”

So, expect to see a slew of new products on the market as vendors seek to keep up with the implementation of IPv6.

The opening up of the TLD’s also represents huge potential for anyone interested in domaining - fingers and credit cards at the ready!

Popularity: 22% [?]

Whole lot of browser love going on.

Yes, Firefox 3 has has notched up a staggering download figure in its first week of availability. What is even more impressive is the figure for the first 24 hours - 8 million downloads.

Reports show that the US took the lead with 5.48 million downloads with Germany coming in second at 1.7 million. The UK managed a healthy 807,900 copies of Firefox downloaded. Hey, we’re only little!

Mozilla have been urging users to download en masse in order to set a world record for the number of software downloads. The campaign by Mozilla was so successful that is almost knocked out their servers!

Browser market share for Mozilla now stands at 19.17%, up from 18.41%.

Does Microsoft have an answer to Firefox? We’ll have to wait for the next release of IE.

Popularity: 22% [?]

By 80%.

So, if you travel Europe with your T-mobile data card you’re quids in.

T-mobile currently charge £7.50 per Mb of data used but this will drop to £1.50 as of 1st  July.  This means that T-mobile will become the cheapest operator in when it comes to surfing using your data card in Europe. That accolade currently resides with 3 and Orange, charging £3 per Mb.

In addition to this announcement, T-mobile has stated that they will also be dropping the cost of texting from abroad; down from 40p to 25p per text.

The move comes in time for a 1st July deadline set by the European Commission. In February, Information society and media commissioner Viviane Reding told operators to make their data-roaming rates more reasonable by the start of July - or else the Commission would consider proposing strict new regulations on these charges.

Popularity: 4% [?]

MS eating Google dust!

In fact, they are also chewing on Yahoo’s dust. Figures for May show Google with a huge 61.9% of search market share followed by Yahoo with 20.6%. Google have a very long lead. To be fair, Yahoo have actually managed to improve their share by 0.2% over Aprils figures.

Erm, then there’s Microsoft. The software giant managed grab 8.5% of Mays search figures. That’s not too bad for an offering that is still relatively new to the game (if you discount the figures that show market share of 0.6% since April!)

I wonder if there’s any room for another search engine in the market?

Popularity: 7% [?]